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System Image Backup in Windows 8.1

By Margus Saluste, www.winhelp.us. Last modified: 2014-09-07.

How to create or update System Image Backup in Windows 8.1

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There is no traditional backup and restore functionality in Windows 8.1, but there is still a way to create a full image of system drive (the disk/partition where Windows is installed) that can later be restored from Recovery Environment.

Please remember to create Recovery Drive for easy access to Repair your PC options!
You might also want to create a Custom Recovery Image for better Refresh your PC functionality.

Finally, free AOMEI Backupper is able to cover all your backup needs automatically.

Caveats for System Image Backups in Windows 8.1

Clearly, Microsoft wants you to use File History, OneDrive (aka SkyDrive) and maybe even Storage Spaces for storing, syncing and backing up your personal files, and Refresh your PC or Reset your PC for restoring Windows to a working state. Maybe that is why System Image Backup is so difficult to find in Windows 8.1.

Here are a few things you should know about system images in Windows 8.1:

• You can create only one System Image Backup on a drive: any previous versions will be overwritten.
• There is no easy way of scheduling image backups, and for the previous reason, it is not really recommended either. You do not want to automatically overwrite a good system image with image of a computer that does not run properly.
• System Image Backup cannot be used for restoring individual files or folders: restoring the image means overwriting everything on the target drive. File History is the proper solution for backing up and restoring personal data in Windows 8.1.

Using DISM to verify that Windows Component Store is intact

Before you create a full backup, it is strongly recommended to check for corruption in Windows Component Store - there is no point in backing up a broken installation that will probably fail in the near future.

Open elevated Command Prompt: either open Start screen, type cmd, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator; or if you've set to display Command Prompt in Taskbar Navigation settings, use keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+X to bring up Quick Links menu (a list of commands for power users) and click Command Prompt (Admin).
 

In the black window, type or copy-paste the following command to have DISM (Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management) tool verify the integrity of Component Store: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth . Press ENTER key to launch the command.
The check takes up to 15 minutes to complete, and if the result reads "No component store corruption detected", you have the green light to create the System Image Backup.

If the result reads "The component store is repairable" instead, type Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and press ENTERkey to fix the corruption. The process can last up to 15 minutes again and positive result reads: "The restore operation completed successfully. The component store corruption was repaired." Move on to the System Image Backup creation then.
 

In case the RestoreHealth command fails no matter what, it is best to perform a non-destructive reinstall of Windows 8.1. This seems to be the only solution to the infamous DISM error 0x800f081f.

Creating a System Image Backup in Windows 8.1

To access the feature, open Search everywhere (keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+Q), type File History and click the result.
Yes, you read it right: "File History".  Also, connect your external hard drive with plenty of available disk space now.

Click the link titled System Image Backup in the bottom left corner of the File History window.

First, System Image Backup looks for available DVD-writers and hard drives. While you can use network drives for backing up your PC, it is not recommended because backed up data cannot be securely protected for a network target.
I cannot recommend using DVD-s for backups, either - optical media is vulnerable to scratches that might ruin the whole backup set, so the only usable option here is hard disk drive.

In accordance with common sense, you cannot create a system image on the same physical drive where Windows is installed. You see, if this hard drive goes bad, you would lose both Windows and all backups.

In the Create a system image window, select On a hard disk. The best one might be already selected, but you can change the target drive using the combo box.
I recommend using destination drives that are connected to standard controllers (not SCSI, SAS, RAID and other controllers that Windows cannot automatically recognize or find driver for) or standard USB ports.

If you've created a system image on the selected drive before, there will be a line stating "Most recent backup on drive:" beneath the combo box. Here's the catch: previous system image will be overwritten, so you can really have only one backup at a time on the same drive.
Click Next.

Windows then lists your backup location and size, plus drives/partitions that will be backed up.
Again, if there is a previous system image on the drive where you want to back up your PC, a yellow warning sign with the text "Any existing system images for this machine might be overwritten" appears.
Click Start backup if you're satisfied with the settings.

Depending on the size of selected drive(s), the backup might take several hours. Click Close after it is complete.

Scheduling System Image Backup in Windows 8.1

While it is not recommended to schedule System Image Backups in Windows 8.1, you might prefer to do so if you have more than one external hard drive dedicated for backups.
In such case, you can manually create one backup on the first drive (for example, drive F:) and leave it untouched forever - this will be your fail-safe backup right after installing and updating Windows and necessary software (you should use File History for backing up your personal files and folders). Then schedule a PowerShell command that creates and updates backup on a different physical drive (for example, drive E:) on weekly basis.

To use this advanced scenario, use keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+Q to open Search everywhere, type schedule and click Schedule tasks.

Right-click Task Scheduler Library and select Create Basic Task from the menu.

In the Create Basic Task Wizard window, type Name for the new task. Description is optional.
Click Next after you're done.

Set Task Trigger to Weekly and click Next. If programs and apps on your Windows device change rarely, you can select Monthly instead.

Because creating a system image slows your PC down for quite some time, choose a start time when your machine is most probably not in heavy use.
Click Next again.

Leave Start a program selected for Action and click Next.

Type powershell.exe into Program/script field and then copy and paste the following line into Add arguments (optional) field:
wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet
Replace drive letter E: in the -backupTarget argument with the appropriate one for your backup destination disk if necessary.
Because Windows 8.1 always assigns drive letter C: to system drive (the one where Windows is installed), changing this one is not needed.
The -allCritical option includes everything (additional partitions/volumes or drives) required to start and run Windows properly in the backup. I guess you all know what -quiet means.

In the final screen of Create Basic Task Wizard, tick the Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish check box and click Finish.

In the Security options section of Task Properties window, select the Run whether user is logged on or not option and tick the Run with highest privileges check box. Then click Change user or Group button next to the When running the task, use the following user account field.

Type system into Enter the object name to select field and click Check Names. The name turns into all capital letters and gets underlined. Click OK.

Back in the Task Properties window, open Settings tab and enable the Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed option. This ensures that the backup is always created.

Finally, click OK to save the task changes. Make sure that the destination drive is always connected during the scheduled time.

To verify that the backup task runs and finishes properly, open WindowsImageBackup folder on the target drive. There should be a subfolder with your computer's name - open it and then open another subfolder, Logs, and see if the Backup_error_<date and time>.log file is empty. If it is, the backup finished successfully.
Please note that you might have to use administrative privileges to open the folders for the first time.

Another way is to check backup log in Event Viewer. Use keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+X to open Quick Links menu and click Event Viewer. Alternatively, right-click or tap and hold the Start tip on Taskbar.

Expand Applications and Services Logs, Microsoft, Windows, Backup items and click Operational. You'll then see the list of events related to backing up your device. Here are some most common backup events in Windows:

• Event ID 1 - The backup operation has started.
• Event ID 4 - The backup operation has finished successfully.
• Event ID 5 - Backup started at <date and time> failed with following error code <number>.
• Event ID 8 - Backup cancelled.
• Event ID 14 - The backup operation has completed. This event appears even if backup was cancelled or did not finish successfully.
• Event ID 20 - Backup started at <date and time> failed as another backup or recovery is in progress.
• Event ID 50 - Backup failed as required space was not available on the backup target. Free up some disk space on the target drive or increase available disk space on Windows disk.

How to restore Windows 8.1 from a System Image Backup

First, you need to get into Windows 8.1 Recovery Environment (WinRE) using Recovery Drive or bootable Windows 8.1 installation DVD. If Windows is running, you can invoke Settings charm (keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+I), click Power and hold down SHIFT key while clicking Restart.
Detailed instructions are included in Repair your computer in Windows 8 and 8.1 tutorial.

Click or tap Troubleshoot in Choose an option screen, then choose Advanced Options in Troubleshoot screen.
 

Next, in Advanced options screen, click or tap System Image Recovery, and choose Windows 8.1.

Follow instructions in Repair your computer in Windows 8 and 8.1, page 2 guide on how to complete System Image Recovery.